I never planned to divert my course with this website.
I put this site together as an online portfolio for my journalism work, combined with a creative outlet for the oft-popular lists just for the proverbial “shits and giggles”.
It wasn’t until two months ago I started using it in the traditional blog sense, and that was for my misadventures in trying to write a novel. Something that never really happens because I work as an editor/journalist and when I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is write.
Regardless, in my job as a national online editor I come across a lot of news stories, but none bother me more than animal cruelty or examples of humans playing God (or Mother Nature depending on your spiritual beliefs).
The U.S. elections brought to light Measure 5, where North Dakotans would vote on whether animal cruelty would be changed from its current Class C misdemeanor status to a more severe crime.
And the northern Midwest state voted it down, 65% to 35%. So, skinning a cat — alive no less — gets a slap on the wrist.
In all fairness, farmers were concerned about being charged after having to put down a horse, but only three species fell under the legal amendment: cats, dogs and horses. And the exact words were, “maliciously and intentionally burning, poisoning, crushing, suffocating, impaling, drowning, blinding, skinning, beating to death, dragging to death, exsanguinating, disemboweling, or dismembering.”
If farmers followed the philosophy of Ernest Hemingway, and made the animal’s suffering non-existent by a quick bullet between the eyes after breaking a limb, so be it. They would not be punished.
Measure 5 was offered so animals would not be dragged to death. Yet, no one supported this motion. That is unfortunate. Pardon my understatement, I’m trying to avoid overt sarcasm.
Now, travel across the pond, to Merry Ol’ England, and you’ll hear about another appalling attack — this time on badgers. Even though British parliament voted 147 – 28 in favour of abandoning a proposed badger cull, efforts by the agricultural community are still being pushed.
I’m an animal rights supporter. Not in the extreme sense like PETA or Greenpeace, but I respect nature. Most importantly I respect OUR role in nature. I’m no vegetarian, but I don’t eat animals that aren’t bred for our consumption. So no shark fin soup or crocodile for me.
I also loathe hunting for sport. If you hunt something, you better damn well eat it.
In addition, I don’t support animal culls — of any kind. Ecosystems are very fragile environments. When humans decide what animals live or die that’s when they play god — not kosher in my opinion.
Whenever large animal culls are suggested, I always ask, “Who culls the humans?” We are after all animals, regardless of our sentient levels and are subject to the natural disasters the maven of the wilds throws at us.
Single-celled critters are often the population checks for homo sapiens. Those suspected to be lurking in villainous badgers under the assumed name, Tuberculosis.
But we keep knocking down any natural threat. Which is a slippery slope because some day there’s going to be a virus that kicks everyone’s ass. Or one pissed off badger who survived the slaughter is going to come back and torture us …